J J Clark

John James Clark, c.1860. Clark married in 1865 but his wife died six years later. The couple had one child, a son Edward. J. J. Clark died at St Kilda in 1915.
Photographer unknown
Reproduced courtesy of the Clark family

The Treasury Building was one of the first of many major government buildings designed by John James Clark. He began designing the building in 1857, at the age of nineteen.

Born in Liverpool, England in 1838, Clark arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1852. He immediately obtained work as a draftsman with the Public Works Department, and received his first commission in 1856, for the Government Printing Office. Clark toured Europe through 1858 to study Classical and Italian Renaissance architecture, and his completed designs for the Treasury Building reflect his passion for the style.

Clark’s many subsequent buildings in Melbourne, country Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand bear his signature style of elaborate ornamentation, grounded in Classical principles of proportion and balance.A devoted and tireless practitioner, Clark died in 1915, having never retired. His architectural legacy is among the most distinguished in Australia.

During his lifetime JJ Clark worked on many buildings, click here to see a complete list.

Dr Andrew Dodd's wonderful book "JJ Clark: Architect of the Australian Renaissance" is now available at Old Treasury Building, rrp $59.95.

Andrew Dodd appeared on By Design with Fenella Kernebone discussing his book and JJ Clark. You can listen or download the program here.